History of the Town

of Ingersoll

by James Sinclair

1924

James Sinclair, Sen.

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DEDICATION

To the Citizens of Ingersoll and The Dairymen of Oxford Citizens and Friends — I dedicate this book, The History of the Town of Inger-soll from its Founding by Major 'Thomas Ingersoll in the year 1793. My seventy years of citizenship, and with over forty years of this period engaged in the manufacture of the in-struments of dairy production, is my warrant for thus ad-dressing you. This book represents the gathering together of such matter as this work contains, the observation and col-lecting of a lifetime, from the writer's school-boy days, and I can say that nothing yields so much pleasure and con-tributes so much to real enjoyment as to be able to call up to memory the pre-existing conditions and compare them with the present, and note the advancement made in every line of activity. There is a tonic in the exercise, and the pleasure is enhanced if you can say you have contributed ever so little to its accomplishment, and if the reading of this little book should recall to your memory events of the past, pleasant to be remembered and treasured up, it will afford satisfaction to no one more than to Yours truly, THE AUTHOR.

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PREFACE

It appears to be a necessary part of every publication to provide a Preface as an introduction to the reader. The title of this book is "History of the Town of Ing-ersoll from its Founding by Major Thomas Ingersoll in the year 1793," by James Sinclair, Sen. Had we confined our efforts to the merely local matters ill this work we would have deprived our readers of much in-ter-esting information, and while not losing sight of the prin-cipal object of our effort, have gathered some interesting side lights on the conditions of the Province of On-tario which are of interest to us, although we were not involved as a commu-nity, (the M. L. F.) We have also dealt with matters whose aspect was of a most seri-ous character, yet happily averted by the statesmanship of Sir Oliver Mowat; nor should we omit to mention the serious drawback to our early progress by the re-moval of Gov. Simcoe, whose purpose of locating the seat of our Provincial Govern-ment at London was thwarted, and with results that vindicated his choice in fa-vour of London. Had his advice been taken there would have been no retreat of Proc-tor to record, nor the tragedy of Te-cumseh to regret, also the invasion by the Americans on two occasions in 1814 and the burning of our Parliament Build-ings in the present situation; also reference to our Dairying Industry, its inception and success, its leading promoters; with reference also to the Fenian trouble and our first Con-federation Day; the purchase of Alaska by the Americans; Members of our Town Council from 1856 to 1865; personal reference to the activities of M. E. Casswell and others; also our early Coach Days with other matters of interest.

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History of The Town of Ingersoll

BY

James Sinclair, Sen., J. P. for Oxford County

From American sources we gather the following with reference to the Ingersoll family of Colonial days, who were among the most influential citizens of that coun-try. It is on record that members of this family held important positions under British rule. Of one member of this fam-ily American history informs us that Jared Ingersoll held the important posi-tion of the Collectorship of the Import Tax on tea, at the time of the occurrence of the "Historical Boston Tea Party," which was a factor of importance in the cause of the Revolu-tion of that time which gave the United States their inde-pendence. A son of the above, also named Charles Jared, was described as a statesman, law-yer and author. Still an-other Jared was a member of the council who framed the Constitution of the U. S., and. Robert Green Ingersoll, per-haps the most noted of the family, while another was nomi-na-ted for vice president of the United States. So far as fam-ily relationship is concerned it would be difficult to find one more sat-isfactory than that of the founders of the Town of Ingersoll. Thomas Ingersoll, by his first wife, was the father of Laura Ing-ersoll, afterward known by her married name of Laura Secord, the heroine of our Canadian history. He, Tho-mas Ingersoll, was married three times and was the fath-er of Charles and James, the latter the first white baby born in Ingersoll. Thomas Ingersoll, prior to coming to Canada, was intimately known by Governor Simcoe

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and also by Brant, the noted Indian chief. We should also state here that while Brant was the Titular chief, Chief Abram was in reality the leading spirit of the associated tribes. It was he who conducted the diplomatic business with the Civil and Military authorities in the U. S., as well as Canada, and it was in intimate relation-ship with those mentioned that Thomas Ingersoll entered upon his future career as a Canadian citizen and as a British subject. It has been said that any settlement of a new country or district takes its future complexion of citizenship from the first settlers, and it would be difficult to find an instance where the truth of this has been experienced to a greater ex-tent than in the early history of Ingersoll. And we do not need to look beyond Our own County of Oxford for another, but differ-ing in character. It is to this class of cit-izens we owe much of our early progress in many lines. There is an-other matter with respect to Thomas Ingersoll which would not be pertinent to Our subject at the present time, but to which we may refer later. We now enter upon the severely pioneer period. Have we of the present day ever asked ourselves what would be the condi-tion of mind of the men and women who first en-tered an unbroken wilderness, to hew out for themselves and their family, their home and existence? If ever a class of men and women deserved to have free land, it was the early pioneers of this country. And yet how few comparative-ly, failed to reach a condition of homely comfort. While we ad-mit the early hard-ship which the pioneer had to encounter, we must not overlook the compensating circumstances which always existed in the friendly and neighborly assis-tance under all conditions that rendered such necess-ary, placing him under no other obligation

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than the return of the same when the occasion came. Settle-ment took place slowly until 1800. and after the second dec-ade the village of Ingersoll could be said to be established. Our situation on the river trail at the point where the In-dians had for centuries in their journeyings left the river trail and directed their course south east in a straight line toward Brantford, being located for military pur-poses as an outpost of the Head Quarter~ of Brant on the Grand River. by Lieut. Gov. Simcoe. Of those Americans who came at that period and made themselves useful citizens. Elisha Hall was early on the scene and erected the first saw-mill on the site of the former oatmeal mill of the Stuarts', and also another saw-mill on the present site of Mr. Smith's mill. which was burned down. W. A. Rumsey estab-lished our first foundry. which was oper-ated afterwards by Mr. W. Eastwood. both of whom were from the U. S. Daniel Car-roll built the flour mill on Charles Street. after completing the upper dam and pond. Mr. Charles Parkhurst came shortly after with his carding mill, one of the most necessary and useful of our lo-cal indus-tries, prior to the coming of which the wives of our pioneers had to hand card the wool and spin the yarn for the family use. The spinning wheel was later put aside as Mr. Parkhurst had added spinn-ing to his carding equip-ment and exchang-ed the yarn for the fleece wool. With still another step in release of the homestead labor of the wife and mother. Rumsey and Eastwood occupied the whole of the site of the present Piano Company with the premises later the property of the writer and at present occupied by Mr. Flander and Mr. D. Howe. Later Mr. William Dunn con-ducted the foundry and mach-ine shop situated where But-ler's Garage and John Staples now are. Mr. Wm. Dunn was a Scotchman but a later partner

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Adolphus Urlin, was an American. Another American. Wil-liam Richardson, following Dunn and Urlin, in the same premises and the same business for a time. It was there the first steam engine in Oxford was built. Afterward Mr. Richardson built. and for a short lime opera-ted his machine shop on the present site of the English Church, but later took down his building and removed it to Bothwell, where the oil excitement was prevalent. Our most prominent and useful citizen for many years was an American, Mr. Thomas Brown, a leader in every enterprise. equally at home in af-fairs of church and state, proprietor of the Tannery, the making of better roads leading to the town was his most prominent and most necessary of his public efforts. with marked benefit to the general public. He was regarded with that paternal respect which implies acknowledged leader-ship. The name "Tom Brown", was frequently used to denote leadership in any enterprise such as "Who is the Tom Brown of this or that scheme or undertaking." It was Mr. Brown who as Mayor of Ingersoll, gave the name Victoria to our park. The prominent firm of Americans who had the contract of sawing the wood on the Great Western Railway, and were considered, deservedly, to be among our best citizens, was composed of Messrs. Wood, Root and Judd, who were for many years resident here, taking an interest in all our insti-tutions. and were prominent members of the Oil Co., in the experimental stage of this trade. Another family who were of importance in our social fabric were two brothers, Henry and Nicholas Taylor, the former an occasional preacher while his brother Nicholas was more retiring in disposition. However, they were speculative and expressed their confi-dence in Ingersoll's future by erecting a block of buildings on Thames Street

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known as Taylor's Block, which made the third brick build-ing on Thames street, the other two being the Caledonia Block of John Mc Donald and the Pomeroy on the Site of the Royal Bank. Another important operative institution had been established by Mr. G. T. Jarvis, namely the Distillery, where a much appreciated beverage was produced in an ex-cellent class of whiskey, mostly from corn, which served a wide distribution. The foregoing represent the principal efforts of our American Citizens while there were others later in our his-tory of our own people, but which show the extent to which we are indebted to them for our early industrial efforts and which was also of advantage in an unexpected direction, viz., in connection with securing R. R. Communication, to which we will refer under another heading. Our early means of communication was the stage coach. Mr. Hobson of Woodstock presented an excellent re-port of the Old Stage Coach Days in Oxford County at the meeting of the Provincial Historical Society in 1919. The year 1832 appears to have been the first date in this connection and relates the fact that on the 10th day of May, 1844, the stage passed through Woodstock on sleighs, (case of a rather late Spring). Mr. Hobson relates the following which will show the difference between the earlier settlers of Wood-stock and those of Ingersoll as the writer noted in a previous connection (in his own words). “In the year 1839, Woodstock had become of much importance, or it imagined so, having many retired military and naval officers living in and about it, who, having influence with the Government, succeeded in having work commenced in the year 1840 on the road lead-ing from Sydenharn to Eastwood to the Governor's (Simcoe's) Road through Woodstock. This road was graded and planked

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with 3" pine lumber. It was finished in 1843 and for a num-ber of years all traf-fic passed through Woodstock, although the old Stage Road was never abandoned. About the year 1847 the planking and grading on the Governor's Road had become much worn and the traffic returned to the old Stage Road. Often six four-horse stages passed each way every day. Some stage lines ran from London to Ingersoll and re-layed (changed horses) every 15 miles. There were over thirty taverns from London to Brantford, twenty of which were be-tween Woodstock and Brantford, and all did a flourishing business. Those old stage coach days were not without their inci-dents. The roads in those days, especially, in wet weather were in many sections most wretched, and the miring of the stage coaches were of frequent occurrence when heavily loaded with passengers, when of course the passengers were obliged to get out and the able bodied were expected to as-sist in relieving the situation. On one such occasion, a rather laughable case appeared, as, being stuck in the mud, the driver ordered all the passengers out and all obeyed but one big fellow who sat still. When the driver saw him, he said, “Look here, my good man, if you don't get out of there, I'll serve you as I did a man yesterday." The big fellow started to take off his coat, "How did you serve the man yes-terday?" "Oh," replied the stage driver, "I just let him sit still." Another incident of a pathetic character was told by the stage driver. On one occasion he overtook a poor, weary woman near Martin's Tavern, and, having room, he took her on. She had a small sack of flour on her shoulder and said she lived north of Ingersoll, had walked all the way to Hamil-ton with one bushel of wheat, and was returning with the flour.

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She had no money but had not wanted for food or lodging on the journey. The very hospitable tavern keepers along the way gave her food, bed and a sup of whiskey, as she called on them, and the stage drivers gave her a lift when they had room. It is such little incidents as those that reveal the char-acters and customs of the people of those days, and it is per-haps well at times to look back over a now al-most forgotten past. It is a past, that in reviewing, cannot fail to exercise our admiration of their manly and womanly virtues that made them able to surmount the difficulties of their situa-tion and of whom it can be said: “The sweetest lives are those to duty wed, When deeds both great and small “Are close knit strands of one unbroken thread . “When love ennobles all, “The world may sound no trumpet, ring no bell “The Books of Life the shining records tel1.” Perhaps it would not be out of place to present a brief sketch, local in character, of our stage coach days. At this time Our communication with the outside world, was con-fined to the stage coach. for the mail and travelling accom-modation, the arrival and departure of which was always a matter of interest, whose appearance was always heralded. by the sounding of the tin horn. For the purpose of mak-ing ready for the arrival, the old Carroll Hotel at this time was daily the scene of bustle and business. In the bar and sit-ting rooms were fire places of generous dimensions, which in the season were gen-erously supplied with fuel, which, added to the hearty welcome of mine host, and the ample bill of fare provided, together with the accessories of an up-to-date hostelry of the time, made the traveller feel at home.

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Ready to resume the journey, the driver mounted his elevated seat, gives the parting salute on his tin horn and a flourish of his whip, the whole proceeding lending a picturesqueness to the occasion, the conveyance jolting and careening on its leathern supports, yet considered the acme of travelling comfort and convenience. How-ever, a change from these conditions was in progress, which would dispose of the picturesqueness of the one and the necessity of the other, and humanity and horse-flesh, be supplanted by the rail-road.

THE THAMES RIVER ROAD

“Long gone with the past are the pioneer days When the riverside road was only a “blaze,” And the Indian lurked like a beast of prey While the ox teams went lolling along the way, But the ox team and red and birch bark abode Are passed like a dream from the Thames River Road. “Then came the stage coach with rumble and din, Full bulging with passengers outside and in, All fresh from the Motherland over the sea In search of new home in the Land of the Free. They chopped and they cleared, they plowed and they sowed And passed in their turn from tile Thames River Road. “The railway came next and thus ended the age Of the pioneer inn, the toll gate, and stage, And the landlord, that soul of mirth and good will Long since with the stage driver sleeps in the hill. All gone after doing the duty they owed Old Mother in toil by the Thames River Road. “The valley now echoes with whistles and wheels Of railways and tramcars and automobiles. A merciless mercantile serve me and go, Days coming and going with no after glow, A money mad, pleasure bound, top heavy load, Profane the dream scenes of the Thames River Road. "Could we but turn back a few pages of time And see the hills in their primitive prime! But past locks the door upon all that has been, The future is something no mortal has seen, . Today 'tis our duty to lighten the load Of the weary who travel the Thames River Road."

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The passing of the stage coach brings us to the approach to our railway system in the early 1850s, and makes us look upon our earlier enterprise in having established those manufacturing industries in their initial condition, inas-much as they were already contributing to the stability of our situation as a future town. It was this con-dition alone that secured us our railroad communication. The original survey of the Great Western Railway followed close-ly the Governor's Road and but a short distance south of it, which, if constructed on their present survey would have been fatal to the advancement of the village of Ingersoll. However, a deputation from Ingersoll met by appointment with the of-ficials of the proposed railway. Some slashing had been done on their present survey when the deputation from Inger-soll arrived. This delegation consisted of at! the business men in town and many

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farmers in the neighborhood. Mr. Henry Crotty who was a justice of the peace, took a leading part. After the present situation of Ingersoll with respect to their business and op-erative industries, together with the extent of territory al-ready served by Ingersoll, had been placed before the offi-cials, they became sufficiently interested to look into the matter more closely and arranged to meet the Ingersoll deputation with some of the higher officials some few days later. Arriving in Ingersoll, they visited all our institutions and it became evident at last that by some means they had been misled as to the very evident possibilities of Ingersoll from a railway business point of view. The question of loca-tion was discussed. When the site of the station came up, the property where our Nut factory now stands was selected, and with a liberal extent of land was offered free by Mr. Daniel Carroll for a station. This was accepted, subject to the approval of the superior officials who would require to decide. Matters were left in this uncertain state for some considerable time with nothing to disturb the belief that this site would be accepted. On the strength of this belief, Mr. James Fowler, who previously was a carpenter, but now the owner of a farm in North Oxford, sold his farm and came to Ingersoll and built what was named the "Anglo-Saxon Ho-tel," on the corner of Carroll and Charles Streets. It hap-pened, unfortunately for him, that the site selected was not considered safe on account of the possibility of the river washing the bank at that point, (and which has actually happened) so that it was abandoned as a suitable situation for the depot. Upon this occurring, Mr. Fowler's investment proved a failure. The building he had erected afterwards fell into disrepute. It was ironically called Harmony Hall, and falling a prey to fire, disappeared

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to be remembered by only our older citizens. The site after-ward selected was the present one, which was purchased from Mr. John Carnegie and given to the Railway Company free, from Thames Street to the Wonham Street Crossing, through the efforts of Mr. Henry Crotty and a few others. Of the present situation of the G. T. R. station it can best be judged as to what it was like, when Mr. John Carnegie of-fered Mr. Henry Poole the whole of this property for half a day's mowing. This part of the village at that time was over-flown at high tide nearly to Victoria Street. It was from that condition the railway created the depot and railway yard as it is today. As it would not be instructive to our later citizens to leave this subject at the above point of description. we must add a few words as to the topography of this section of the town. To do so we must describe from memory its general ap-pearance about 68 years ago, looking westward from the Thames St. Bridge. In early spring time one could sec only an unbroken view of the river extending from the site of the G. T. R. depot up to the foundation site of St. Paul's Church. On the right hand the river current was swiftly passing, while on the left many elm trees, centuries old, could be seen rising from the surrounding waters, with their great trunks, many of them eight feet in diameter and with an enormous spread of branches. Here the water was not af-fected by the current with a depth of water of 4 to 6 feet, and often remained so until the middle of June. This flood was caused by the bends of the river, which were caused in early days by the numerous dams erected by the beaver, and also to the great flood-wood which held back the waters of the river. In the next ten years a great improvement had taken place. On the flats

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where the water settled, the sediment had built up the land until it was above the stream, excepting at very high water. The first building to be erected was situated at the south-west corner adjoining the bridge and close to the river on the site of the offices of the present File Company. It was a wooden structure two stories in height, on posts which made a basement nearly eight feet high, which was wood-shed and summer kitchen. The writer was then a lad, a messenger boy for the only telegraph office in town at the G. T. R. Station (then the Great Western) and the happy pos-sessor of a row boat. It happened that the writer was out for a row on the river when the window of the upper story was opened and a mattress on which a poor fellow had died a few days before, was thrown out, and landed near the river, one end leaning against the wooden sides of the basement. (The mattress was filled with straw.) I had gone but a little way up the river, and turned back just in time to see the cook from the storey below throw out a pan of hot wood ashes, which lit on the mattress. The result was instantane-ous, and before anything could be done the building was in flames and burned to the ground. It was some years after that the Noxon Company erected the present buildings. Several wooden bridges ex-isted before the present iron bridge. Going north over the bridge and crossing the G. T. R., on the site now occupied by Mr. Kestle's Grain Warehouse stood the Adair Hotel, a hand-some three storey building. This was destroyed by fire in the course of which the late Dr. Carroll narrowly escaped death in his attempt to rescue his horse from the burning stable. This left him disfigured during his life. With our reference to the location of the railway we end the most important event of the decade of the 40's, as our

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reference is mainly confined to our local history as a village. The immigration to the other parts of the country was as-suming considerable importance. On the north of the village the Zorras were receiving a splendid class of immigrants, the majority being Highland Scotch. Of many of them it can be said they reached their destination with memories gloomy, indeed, of the home of their birth, and became valued citi-zens of the land of their adoption. To the South, the same might be said with truth of our Irish settlers whose pioneer efforts redeemed the Township of Dereham from almost a primitive wilderness, both of these sections of our country being valuable contributors to the trade and prosperity of Ingersoll, also the Norwiches, with a splendid class of early settlers of mixed nationalities, many of whom were Ameri-cans, who, with their progressive spirit and previous knowl-edge of pioneer conditions of life early in our history, made themselves useful in many lines of activity, to which refer-ence will be made in connection with our early dairy busi-ness. With these also business connection was made with Ingersoll from its earliest settlement. Before entering on the decade of the 1850s it might be well to state that the decades previous had supplied us with the men who had managed our municipal affairs from early village hood and extended their usefulness into our early history as a town. In 1852, John Galliford, Reeve; 1853, Thomas Brown was Reeve; 1854, Thomas Brown, Reeve; in 1855, James McCarty was Reeve, (Dr. McCarty). In 1856, Feb. 1st, the Market Buildings, Town Hall and Clerk's Office were burned, destroying the books and records of the coun-cil. The arrival of the railway in 1854 was an important event in the history of the village of Ingersoll. The first bene-fit derived from its coming was in

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opening up a market for our timber. The cord wood supplied for the use of the locomotives was of such an excellent qual-ity that it was in constant demand, no longer were log heaps burned as a means of disposal. Cutting and clearing the land was now in active progress and employment was plentiful. In 1852 war was officially de-clared by Russia. The advanced price of wheat which had al-ready prevailed for several years previously and was pur-chased by Great Britain, as the ports of Russia were closed to this trade which up to this time had been the granary of Western Europe and especially Great Britain, the great ad-vance in price and unlimited demand caused the awakening of a spirit of optimism which eventually proved fatal to the well-being of the people. It was in the year 1852 that the Municipal loan fund was introduced by Sir Francis Hincks, which proved most disastrous to the whole province of Up-per Canada, and 20 years afterward left a debt of about $16,000,000 to be paid by the citizens of Upper Canada as well as leaving the farms in an unproductive condition owing to the exhausting of the fertility of the land, through over-cropping in the previous years. This condition of the country affected every enterprise of the communities. And it may be stated in this connection that this condition of the country was one of the principal causes of the adoption of the dairying system as the only visible, practical source of relief, and as such it will be well to bear in mind when we reach our reference to the accep-tance and adoption of our system of conducting this im-portant business. Having already given our town officers for the years 1852, 1853, 1854 and 1855, also the destruction of the municipal buildings in 1856, while the town officials for this year were John Galliford,

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Reeve; Thomas Brown, Charles Parkhurst, J. F. McCarty, Adam Oliver, Councillors; James Berry, Clerk, and John Paterson, Treasurer. In the year 1857 with the occurrence of the greatest financial upheaval recorded up to ·that time, in-volving as it did Europe and America, many were the “Black Fridays,” experienced throughout the business and commer-cial world, and from which Canada was by no means ex-empt. In that year the first serious accident happened on the Great Western Railway, when a whole passenger train plunged into the Desjardines Canal near Hamilton, in which Zimmerman, one of the most prominent bankers and capi-talists of that time was killed, and which served to add to the chaos of the situation then existing. In 1858, notwith-standing the serious outlook of every branch of trade and commercial life, politics were not neglected and the election of a representative, for a time seemed to dissipate the gloomy forecast in other respects. Robert Fleming Gourlay, regarded as the “Stormy Petral” of our political atmosphere in those days, was one of the candidates in opposition to Dr. Connor, which resulted in the latter's success over his oppo-nent by the majority of a single vote. In 1859, our municipal officers were: Adam Oliver, Reeve; Darius Doty, Dep. Reeve; James McDonald, Thomas Brown, John Galliford, Willard Eastwood, Councillors ; Henry Taylor, Clerk; Joseph Barker, Treasurer. Previous to and during this period, the Americans were well advanced in the scientific methods of the dairying trade and had successfully made their appearances on the British markets with their product. This fact made it necessary for us in Canada to adopt their methods and in order to do so on the same lines we were fortunate in securing one of the leading professors in Western New York

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State, (reference to which will appear later.) In the mean-time, much had been accomplished in the consolidation of pre-vious efforts under the Co-operative sy-stem. In the month of June of this year, the Province of Upper Canada was visit-ed by a most severe frost, on the 12th of this month, and two following nights, destroying the corn, pota-toes, and fruit, which was severely felt by our farmers. It was on the 24th of May the excitement of the Alligator (supposed) was brought to a climax and which had (it is said) brought about 10,000 people to the village of Ingersoll, only to find themselves victims of the greatest hoax ever per-petuated on a like number of people, the details of which cannot find a place in our present offering. In the following year, 1860, the visit of the Prince of Wales, who ascended the throne of Great Britain as Edward the seventh, whose reign was comparatively brief and of such a character as to promote harmony among the nations, with such success as to earn and receive the honor of being known as the peace-maker, with our neighboring nation, the United States. Con-ditions were assuming a serious aspect, peace or war were in the balance. Abraham Lincoln was President and had al-ready won the confidence of the people of the U. S. His ef-forts to prevent the outbreak of war had failed. In this year the town officers were: Adam Oliver, Reeve; Darius Doty, Dep. Reeve; Edward Barker, John Galliford, Willard East-wood, Councillors; Henry Taylor, Clerk; I. Barker, Treasurer. The American Civil War opened, the Confederates firing on Fort Sumter. The reader may ask what the opening of the American war had to do with our dairy business. Here is the explanation. Dur-ing the early part of this war the Confed-erates had outfitted a number of fast vessels to prey on the commerce of the United

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States. Among the most noted was the Alabama, With these vessels operating on the vessels flying the North American flag, the cost of freight was so excessive, also insurance on cargoes, that the Americans were unable to get their dairy products to the British market — hence the opportunity was presented to Canada to secure a foothold in this market, which rapidly developed to the benefit of Canada. It was on this occasion during the progress of the American war we were able to secure our initial success, through the energetic efforts of Mr. Edwin Casswell, who made during this period his earliest appearance as our representative in Great Brit-ain. It may be said that up to this time our direct trade with Great Britain was confined chiefly to timber and our fish cries and fur trade which will be given extended 'treatment as our subject advances. The arrival of Professor Arnold was delayed owing to the war, but he was in communication with our leaders. and from time to time sent his instructions, which were acted upon with marked benefit to the operators who were well ad-vanced in the system used in the U. S. In 1862, this year be-ing the tenth during which the municipal Loan Fund was in operation. The government at this time made an investiga-tion to ascertain the conditions existing at the half of the pe-riod (20 years), this Loan Fund measure was to operate. and disappointing in the extreme was the result. Here are some of the many examples of the conditions revealed. In the case of the Municipality which had loaned $160,000 of borrowed money to 6 local companies in four of them according to the official return, “No revenue derived. stock worthless,” as to the fifth road sold by Sheriff, and so it was with many oth-ers, and only 10 years in existence! The effect of this on our people was to

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raise their hopes with respect to our in-troduction of the dairying industry, for had our province been in a normally satisfied condition, it is not likely it would have been given the active support it received from all sections of the prov-ince. At this time Canada had the Fenians to interest them and military matters were now in an active state. Companies of volunteers were being formed throughout the province and with the Ingersoll company under Captain Wonharn were called out on active service on the western front at Sandwich and Windsor. The depredations of the Confederate Marine were successful in making many captures of Ameri-can ships, and the Trent Affair had a serious aspect for a brief period. In the meantime matters in our dairying busi-ness were making headway in many ways. Not only the dairy business proper but other lines of manufacture were opened up, the making of utensils and apparatus of various kinds. The presses used in the early days gave ample employment to machine shops and other lines. The vats and milk cans was a flourishing trade. The making of cheese boxes em-ployed many in the whole course of production from the tim-ber in the rough. Our council for this year 1862, were: Adam Oliver, Reeve; Darius Doty, Dep. Reeve; John Gallif'ord, R. McDonald, Arthur O'Connor, Councillors; R. A. Woodcock, Clerk; E. Doty, Treasurer. Approaching the subject of the introduction of our dairying and looking back to the opening years of this dec-ade, an entirely new state of affairs present them-selves. The hopeless condition of agriculture along with the conditions we have noted during our progress in our subject. it is only correct to say that it was under these circumstances the public men of Ingersoll interested themselves in the de-velopment of the dairy business just passing

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the experimental stage on the factory principle, by extending invitations to the leading dairyman of other sections, and in-viting their co-operation in seeking the services of scientific knowledge by engaging the leading experts and professional men from the most advanced dairying dis-tricts in the U. S., both before and when the first dairymen's association was formed, and which was attended by represen-tative men from many sections of the country, until Ingersoll was known through-out the Province of Ontario as the Home of the profession, while her own product was accorded the preference in the leading markets of Europe under the name of the “Ingersoll District Cheese.” Much, however, required to be done to meet the various requirements of the different classes of consumers, which was happily met to the benefit of the whole cheese producing community. On the arrival of Professor Arnold from Utica, N. Y., it would be impossible to imagine a more enthusiastic audience. The invitation had been responded to in a manner that was a surprise to everyone. Prominent men of the dairy trade from every part of the Province were present and in many cases had. brought young men with them to be left here by arrangement, in order to learn the business of cheese making from the factories already in operation. After suitable introductions by Mr. Noxon Chadwick and Mr. Casswell, the latter, whose name had become a household name throughout the province, was cheered again and again, Professor Arnold lost no time in presenting his pro-gramme, to give three services daily every alternate day for the week, from 9 A.M., to 12 A.M., from 2 to 4 P.M., from 7 to 9 P.M., the latter to give an opportunity to those employed in the cheese factory, questions to be asked by the cheese makers and to be answered

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and explained by the Professor Mr Robert Facay put the questions for those who desired. Never did students apply themselves more thoroughly than those young men who came to learn. Standing room in our town hall was at a premium. Just here we will state that the dairy business opened up many other businesses or ex-tended those existing. For instance, Adam Oliver had al-ready provided machinery for making cheese boxes, also Christopher Brothers. The foundries and machine shops had or were preparing to supply their lines, with the demand for the many articles demanded by this business. Trade in every line felt the effect and Ingersoll was the busiest place in the province. The war in the U. S. now in progress, held back the competition we would have had and would have deprived us of much of this trade, while with the Reciprocity Treaty we were at that time dealing under, would expire in 1864, which, if the war continued, would be extended as the U. S. could not make a treaty under their circumstances. One of the most important events in the war in the U. S. at that time was what is known as the Trent Affair which involved Great Britain and was the cause of a number of British regiments being despatched to Canada. The trouble was the seizure by Capt. Wilkes of the U. S. Navy on the high seas of the two commissioners of the Confederate Gov-ernment on board the British vessel “The Trent”, on their way to Europe to obtain recognition of the Con-federate States. This act was a violation of the Treaty between Great Britain and America with regard to seizure on the high seas. This occurred in 1861, and the commissioners, whose names were Mason and Sledell, were taken to Boston and imprisoned under guard. Part of the American people and the noisiest of them treated

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the affair as an achievement of the naval officer and defied Great Britain. When she made her demand for' their release, Abraham Lincoln, however, pointed out that the officer was wrong in making this seizure, and after consulting some of the leading men of his country, decided to release the com-missioners. In his quaint way he said that one war was enough at the time, but the feeling was running strong among the less informed and the papers were very belliger-ent toward Great Britain, as they felt humiliated when the commissioners had to be given up. The regiments sent over from Great Britain remained here as the Fenians were giving lots of trouble. Our volun-teer regiments were being filled up and many of our young men were posted on the frontiers. Returning to our subject, the making of the Mammoth Cheese was being discussed very cautiously as it was an un-dertaking of some magnitude and great risk and also with-out precedent as a guide. It was not until 1864 that arrange-ments were completed and the appliances necessary were decided upon. It was decided that all requirements in con-nection should be made in Ingersoll in order to keep outsid-ers from knowing their purpose. Following were the town of-ficers for 1863: John Galliford, Reeve Arthur O'Connor, Dep. Reeve; Adam Oliver, J. H. Hoyt, Dr. D. M. Robertson, Coun-cillors; R. A. Woodcock, Clerk; James Murdock, Treasurer. The war in the U. S. was progressing favorably for the Northern Armies and the death of Stonewall Jackson this year seemed to discourage the southern people, and the end of the war was felt to be in sight. But, as the war was near-ing an end, our enemies the Fenians, were growing bolder and the hope to enlist many of the discharged soldiers in their cause made the situation more serious for us in

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Canada, and our whole attention was turned to military af-fairs. More soldiers were coming to Canada and London was turned into a military camp with the regiments stationed there, while Brantford, Toronto and Hamilton had several regi-ments with all their extensive outfits, While our volun-teers were being recruited to their full strength, all other business was almost entirely neglected. The matter which interested our citizens was our passing from villagehood to take o u r position as a town in the near future and it was feared the Fenian menace would prevent this consumma-tion, while our main hope was that Great Britain would bring pressure to bear on the government of the U. S. in our behalf, but it appeared that the U. S. could not take any ac-tion until some overt act had been committed by the Fen-ians. With the entrance upon this year 1864, we close our ex-istence as a village. Naturally the desire to preside as our first Mayor was an incentive to rivalry between the aspirants for this office. The officers for the last year of villagehood were John Galliford, Reeve; D. M. Robertson, Dep. Reeve; Arthur O'Connor, R. Mc Do na l d , James Noxon, Council-lors; R. A. Wood-cock, Clerk; E. Doty, Treasurer. The war in the U. S. ended in this year and the fears entertained by the people of Can-ada that the disbanding of the American army would give encouragement to the Fenians was daily becom-ing more evident with a steady arrival of British troops. The trade between Canada and the U. S. began to fall off, our country was flooded with American silver and was taken by our banks at a discount. From speeches made by many of our leading dairymen at banquets and other gatherings, we gather that its introduction beneficially effected the whole economic life of Ontario, and its development brought unity

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of economic interests throughout the western part of the Province to an extent impossible to realize. While our people were naturally seriously impressed with the menace to our peace and comfort existing on our frontier they never relaxed in their efforts to complete their design of presenting to the commercial world at large, this concrete example of our country's resources and our ability to use them, all arrange-ments for the making of the mammoth cheese being now prepared for execution, the preliminary work in connection with the place of its construction occupying the balance of the year. We enter the year 1865 as the Town of Ingersoll taking our place among the progressive communities of Ontario. The inauguration of our advanced status was not celebrated with that enthusiasm that would have accompanied the event had the peaceful condition of our country not been menaced by the prospect of invasion by the Fenians, which at this time had assumed a most serious aspect. The ending of the American war the previous year, which we anticipated in a former chapter, now proved to be a reality in the dis-banding of hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the American Army. This was the event which was counted on by our prospective invaders to add to their numbers, which together with a press hostile to everything British, was far from comfortable or reassuring. It was in this atmosphere our entrance into the Status of a Town was consummated by the election of Adam Oliver as Mayor, James McCaughey, Reeve; Edward Barker, Dep. Reeve; James McCaughey, James Bell, A. N. Christopher, James Noxon, R. H. Carroll, Edward Barker, C. P. Hall, Councillors; R. A. Woodcock, Clerk; E. Doty, Treasurer. In addition to our unrest caused by the threatening attitude of the Fenian menace,

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matters of still greater importance to us were being forced on our observation. The coming confederation of the provinces of Canada were slated to take place on July 1st, 1867, barely two years hence. Frequently the question would be asked “What would be the result of failure on our part to prevent our enemies from getting a foothold in our country?” The answer was, that should the Fenians succeed in secur-ing an initial advantage over our defenders, the Americans would be powerless to prevent the invasion of our country from widely separate points of attack, by thousands of dis-charged American soldiers. In such a situation the proposed confederation of our provinces would have to be at least postponed, if not abandoned. In order to make this state-ment understood by the reader of today, we have only to re-fer to the lack of enthusiasm toward Federation by several of the Province. It can be said of some of them, that were it not for the influence of the three most prominent statesmen of that period, the consummation of Federation would have been doubtful. The three statesmen referred to were Sir John McDonald, who was regarded by the people of Canada as their political leader, Sir George Etienne Cartier, the cho-sen representative of Quebec, and the Hon. Thomas D'Arcy McGee, the latter who was the most brilliant orator of his time, Hon. George Brown with other members, known as the Fathers of Confederation. The following year, 1866, is remarkable, for two impor-tant events. On June 2, our invaders were routed and the much heralded formidable invasion proved a miserable fail-ure, costing us the loss of, alas, too many of our young men. And it can be said that it was accomplished by our own vol-unteers, not a British soldier fired a shot, and it was from the ranks of our own citizens the sacrifices were made.

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I cannot do better than repeat what a member of our govern-ment stated when a small donation to the survivors of the volunteers of that period was proposed. “It was not what the men of 1866 had done, it was what they prevented,” and what that was can be understood from our preceding state-ments. Our country, now restored to peaceful conditions, was in a state of mind to appreciate the other important event re-ferred to, namely the successful production of the Mammoth Cheese which weighed 7,000 lbs, or three tons and a half. This was the outstanding feature which was proposed in 1864. To create the Mammoth Cheese was worth more than an advertisement of Our resources and potentially and fur-nished a precedent for every succeeding enterprise of a simi-lar character. It was the harbinger of that continued pros-perity that followed its appearance, throughout the whole country. It was also coincident with the notable event above referred to in the removal of the menace to Our peaceful ex-istence. But the utter collapse of the threatened Fenian in-vasion being completed in the same month of the same year, 1866, peace on our borders was restored. Confidence in the future of our dairying enterprise had inspired our people to greater efforts in its promotion. While the barriers had been removed from our successful appear-ance on the principal markets of the world, while excellence of quality was expressed in the words “Ingersoll District Cheese,” it would add but little to the information of those of the present day to make extended reference to the success-ful experience of that most worthy man, Mr. Homer Ranney, it would also be an act of injustice on our part to fail to give his early efforts a place in our record, as one of those worthy settlers in our earlier days, who brought with him from

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Herkimer County, N. Y. State, that practical knowledge of dairying as it was operated and conducted in that part of the U. S., and in his family relationship with the late James Harris, Esq., whose interest and enthusiasm in the forma-tion of the co-operative system of production made him one of our principal leaders in this trade. To him the making of the Mammoth Cheese was entrusted and so successfully ac-complished, while to our grand old man who was affection-ately referred to as Father Ranney, it was a source of great satisfaction to witness from within the circle of his own fam-ily the success of an undertaking of such far reaching im-portance. Nor can we fail to add that the loyalty of our friends in the Norwich district was a most important con-tributing element in the ultimate success of the undertaking in connection with which we refer to the names of Farring-ton and Lossee as outstanding in their efforts toward suc-cess from the initial stages of this enterprise. At the period to which we are referring fears were often expressed as to the permanence of the dairy business from the exhaustion of the fertility of the soil, nor could the lay-man at that time be blamed for entertaining this opinion, af-ter the experience which we have related with respect to conditions existing a few years, previously, from the over-cropping in the case of wheat and other cereals. Science and our own experience during the last 60 years has made it clear that of all the products of the farm that permanently leave the source of production, dairying takes least of the elements of plant life, and leaves more of the elements nec-essary to plant life, than any other class of farming. With this feature of the dairying business confirmed and, the enormously increased demand for milk used in many forms of consumption which appears to

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be limited only by the production, seems to settle the ques-tion of exhaustion. Passing from the producing part of our subject we now approach the all important question — the bringing of the product of the meadows to the markets of the world, in which an entirely separate class of talent and abil-ity is necessary, involving both intelligence and experience. With respect to the most available market, Great Britain as a nation who depends on her imports for her food supply, from the surplus of other countries, preferably her overseas Dominions to supply the teeming millions of her people, it is apparent some competent agency was required to form the connecting link between the producer and the consumer. In the year 1830 a child was born at the City of Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England. At a suitable age he became connected with an importing and exporting commercial house, whose business was conducted on the thousands of pounds scale of their transactions. When this young man reached nearly his 20th year, he came to Canada and settled in the village of Ingersoll early in the year 1850, and entered the employment of Barker and Browett, whose place of busi-ness, a general store, was situated at King St. East. While he was rendering most acceptable service to his employers, the question of the co-operative system of dairying began to in-terest our people and into this matter he threw his whole ef-forts in its promotion, realizing as but few could, the vast possibilities presented in such a profitable and successful enterprise. Upon his intimate knowledge of the business system necessary to secure reco-gnition on the British markets, he was entrusted with the confidence of the management in his know ledge and business ability to the extent of his promo-tion as representative of our interests in placing

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our products on the British markets, in which he succeeded beyond our expectations. I will no longer withhold the name of our greatest commercial statesman which was Mr. Edwin Casswell. These efforts by no means ended his labors. Proprietors and managers of steamship companies, railway presidents and other officials were conferred with and interested, every phase of the business was covered by his forethought and courage and it is upon record that in the interests of this trade Mr. Edwin Casswell had made 55 journeys across the ocean visiting and dealing with the ports of entry and other matters in England and Scotland, standing guard over our interests which we could not commit to other hands with equal confidence. This truly wonderful man, for such he was in many ways, had removed to London, Canada, where he departed this life in 1896 at the age of 66 years, leaving be-hind him his name to be honored and respected and an en-during monument to his life efforts for the benefit and wel-fare of his fellow men. Entering the year 1867 and this the 57th anniversary of that event, brings to mind the relief experienced by the peo-ple of this country at the deliverance from the suspense and anxiety which had existed for several years on account of the menace of serious trouble which had been overcome during the previous year, by the successful disposal of the Cause. The change from despondency and apprehension manifested itself in the enthusiasm with which our people hailed the consummation of Confederation, with a joyous spirit of thankfulness which found expression in many ways. The regimental bands in the cities were on duty from early morn-ing and regiments of volunteers who had not disbanded pa-raded in full strength, music and cheering filled the air, and Sir John A. McDonald's name, when mentioned by

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any of the platform speakers was received with prolonged cheering. What a change from the previous year, (1866), when doubt and fear as well as sorrow at the loss of the lives of those who had fallen, and which darkened our future out-look for a time. However, we were not alone in making this a memora-ble day on our national calendar. Our neighboring nation had been from 1864, through their secretary of state Sew-ard, in diplomatic communication with Russia, with the pur-pose of purchasing Alaska, and which was arranged for the sum of $7,200,000, to take place on the same date, as the confederation by Canada of her several provinces, July 1, 1867. This event of our neighbors can scarcely be called a coincidence. We have no desire to question the right of the Americans to make this purchase, or read into the transac-tion a spirit of hostility toward us. But it is a reminder that anything in the shape of territory north of the 49 parallel would be acceptable to our neighbors — as the Province of Ontario has still on its hands and will not be able to take up the settlement of the M. L. F. for the next five years nearly, or until the expiration of the 20 year period it had to oper-ate. 1872. Even at this distance in point of time signs are not wanting to indicate a most dangerous tendency on the part of many of our people of whom better judgment was ex-pected, openly advocating repudiation of the whole debt, which already showed arrears of $13,000,000. It was not until Hon. Sir Oliver Mowat appeared on the platform during his canvass to the forth coming election in 1873, that the people were made aware of the seriousness of the situation. “A great moral wrong,” Sir Oliver Mowat said, speaking on this subject. The effect was to diminish the value of munici-pal securities generally

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and to corrupt the moral sense of the people with reference to moral obligation. Sir Oliver Mowat did not overlook the material loss but rightly regarded the moral loss as tremen-dously more vital. In several constituencies candidates ap-pealed and sad to relate, appealed successfully for support 001 the ground that they would defy the government to col-lect the amounts due in respect to such loans and the disas-trous habit be formed of repudiating such obligations. The lofty statesmanship of Sir Oliver Mowat on this occasion had the effect of lifting him to the first rank among our public men and made him the personification of honor and justice with the people, on the threshold of his career of 30 years as Premier of Ontario. By this act of Sir Oliver Mowat which received practi-cally the unanimous approval of the legislation and province of Ontario, she was relived of her burdens and thereafter be-gan an era of growth and prosperity. With the foregoing we might safely leave the subject of the M. L. F. in the hands of Sir Oliver, but before parting entirely with our readers, we would like to call their attention to the closing acts of this “Comedy of Errors” in statesmanship, which followed the whole course of this unfortunate measure, until the climax was reached, in the proposition to repudiate the whole in-debtedness. Had the position Sir Oliver was called to fill, fallen to less capable hands or one whose moral fibre and tenacity of purpose, had been less than his, the sacred honor of our province would have been sacrificed on the altar of stupidity and selfishness and with the total ignorance of the funda-mental principles of commercial intercourse. Having dis-posed of this incubus of debt our Province could greet the rising sun of prosperity with cheerfulness and

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thankfulness. Our trade with the Motherland had not only been maintained but had materially advanced· in volume and. value and the returns were prompt and satisfactory, every line of activity from the village blacksmith to the rail-way and steamship in one unbroken line of effort to connect Our exhaustless meadow with an insatiable market. With all resources. accessible, without raising a derrick or sinking a shaft or toiling in the bowels of the earth, from 4 to 6 inches beneath the sunlit surface of the earth, all creation that ‘live, move and have their being,’ from this inexhaustible source find their sustenance, everlasting, so long as the sun shines and rain descends. These, and these alone, are the conditions on which our trade is built and in which our whole people share in the bene-fits. It is only those whose years enable them to look back to the former conditions. of life ("as a race has arisen that knew not Joseph,") who can see the great advance that has been made in the last 60 years. There were three peri-ods in the history of Western Ontario that were unfavourable to her progress. The first was the removal of Gov. Simcoe in connection with which is one of the most scandalous exhibi-tions of the heartlessness of the then governor of Canada, with the intrigue and connivance of the so called first famil-ies of York (Toronto), to which we may refer later. The next was the situation of Ontario after the Crimean War, includ-ing the great crisis of 1857 and the municipal 'loan fund with which we have, already dealt. The first step in the con-tinuous progress of Western Ontario, was, is and will con-tinue to be based on the dairying system introduced during the early 60's, in the Ingersoll district of South Oxford. The products may change in form but elementally, never. For in-stance, one local Condensing Company (The Borden Co.

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Ltd.,) were receiving 90,000 pounds of milk daily and the three county factories receive daily 250,000 lbs. Their export is 1/50 of their product, our trade in cheese and butter to be added to this. Summary of the introduction of the co-operative mak-ing and marketing of our dairy products: 1864 — Meeting held in the offices of the Niagara Dis-trict Bank, C. E. Chadwich, Manager. The following list will show the occasion and personnel of those who were the earliest connected with the effort to bring the several dairymen of this district to-gether in the co-operative system of mak-ing and marketing the product of the factories : Mr. James Noxon, Chairman; C. E. Chadwick, Secre-tary, Ingersoll; James Harris, West Oxford; Edwin Casswell, salesman, Ingersoll; Harvey Farrington, H. S. Lossee, Nor-wich; Daniel Phelan, Capitalist, Ingersoll; George Galloway, West Oxford; Charles Wilson, Dereham; Robert Facay, Inger-soll; Benjamin Hopkins, Brownsville. Messrs. Thos. Balantine, Stratford; D. Derbyshen, Brockville, were not present, but had been advised in ad-vance of the propositions to be brought forward at this meet-ing and had given their consent. It was at this meeting Mr. C. E. Chadwick made the statement that trade could not be conducted on a local scale, or as he expressed it in a parochial manner, and the proposition was made to extend invi-tations to all those who were in any way connected with dairying in Ontario. This proposition was made after Mr. Casswell had expressed his views from the stand-point of salesman. It was at this meet-ing the proposition was made to make the mammoth cheese. The following were the conditions ex-isting at this time and in fact they had

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much to do with the meeting, at that time. The American war had entered its fourth year, and for reasons stated pre-viously, (which was the activity of the Confeder-ate cruisers) the Americans were unable to market their products, and having in-creased their coast defences so that the Blockade runners were unable to get into Charlston, S. C., or other southern ports to get cargoes of cotton in sufficient quan-tities to keep the cotton mills of Manches-ter and other manufacturing districts supplied, the consequence was that many of the cotton mills had closed' and the operatives were thrown out of employ-ment, when much suffering had to be en-dured by a great body of workers. The situation created was this. While so far as the lessening of the U. S. supply was favourable to us as producers, it also oper-ated to in-crease the demand for cheese which is explained in a man-ner not unrea-sonable or unlikely when the important fact is considered that bee,', bread and cheese constituted a fa-vourable lunch at any time with the English people, and as it cost but little, was made the substitute for a more expen-sive meal. After the American Civil War, the increased con-sumption in the United States made their domestic trade of more importance and greatly diminished their export trade in dairy products with Great Britain which was la rge ly re-placed by our Canadian producers. And one of the objects to gain by the co-operative' system was to secure a uniformity of product to suit requirements of the trade. Proceeding on the claim of priority, we must include the operations of our old friend, Father Ranney, who as early as 1835 made the first cheese for sale in the local market, and during his active years possessed a dairy herd of 100 cows, which at that time was considered remarkable, nor can we get away from Father Ranney

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under more modern conditions, as two of our most promi-nent manufacturers, Mr. James Harris and Mr. Harvey Fa n-ingto n, who were brothers-in-law, and at the same time sons-in-law of Father Ranney. Nor is that all. The mammoth cheese was made in the factory of his son-in-law, Mr. James Harris in West Oxford, just outside the corporate limits of the town of Inger-soll, and furthermore, it was a success. Here the dairying trade of Ingersoll on the co-operating plan was conceived, born, cradled and nourished until it wore pants, and could go it alone, and then Rome. Here it was where the young men were sent to learn the dairy business, were lod-ged and boarded. receiving the same fare and at-tention as the family. Here it was mechanics from those places, distant from Ingersoll, came and were shown through our workshops and factories. Nothing was reserved that would assist them in their trades and business in con-nection with the dairy business. They were given free what had cost us much in experiment and experience, and all this information with a free will, and which was continued for years afterward on the same terms. Nor should we forget to mention the fact that not only were young men prepared to perform their duties as opera-tors and take the responsibility of the management of their respective establishments, but they were prepared for a wider field of usefulness. It is now over 20 years ago that the dairy interests of Scotland perceived the necessity of secur-ing some advanced intelligence, to meet the demand of their interests. To do so it was found necessary to go beyond the limits of their own environment and appeal to that source of information that had already proved itself as possessors of that know-ledge. It was to the Ingersoll District they ap-pealed, and it was from the Ingersoll District their require-ments were met

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and more than satisfied, by one of our most brilliant young men who not only met the practical demands of his advan-ced situation, but proved himself possess-ed of those quali-ties of intelligent leader-ship which in due course placed the insti-tution in a flourishing condition, with the result that his address is : Professor R. J, Drummond, West of Scotland, Dairy Institute, Kilmarnock, Scotland, Nor should we fail to remind our read-ers that out of re-spect to the memories of his citizenship some years ago, has named his beautiful home, Ingersoll. We have yet another name to which what has been said of Mr. Drummond can with equal truth be said of his com-rade of years ago, who as the son of one of the most re-spected families of North Oxford, and who was educated at the High School in Ingersoll, by his own merits, now fills the most responsible position in connection with the dairying in-terests of our own country, in the person of Mr. J, A. Rud-dick, Dairy Commissioner for the Dominion of Canada. And we can assure both of the above named gentlemen of the pride and satisfaction it gives their many friends to be able to point to their unqualified success that has attended their life careers. Entering the decade of the 70's which was a turbulent one in politics and a most disastrous one for Ingersoll, 1872 in this year early in May we were the 'sufferers by fire of the most extensive and disas-trous in our history. Both sides of Thames St. from Charles St. on the east side to the Caledo-nia Block and on the west side about the same distance from Charles St., with the loss of two lives. The fire started in the barn of the Hotel formerly called the ‘Royal Exchange’, a large frame

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building two stories in height with a high pitched roof which was continued over the verandah which extended the full length of the front with upper floor and protected by a balus-trade nearly breast high, ornamented with turned pillars. The swell of the pillars would be about 4' in diameter capped with a rail about 6" by 4" rounded top. The massive posts, which carried the roof as well as the verandah, were about one foot square and tapered slightly. The pillars forming the balus-trade were always painted white what. ever the other parts of the building would be. The sign, erected on a sub-stantial post just off the sidewalk, was of the regula-tion type of the period and carried a swinging sign which was decorated with the picture of Queen Victoria on one side and Prince Albert on the other. Beneath the pictures was the words, "Royal Ex-change" in gold letters. This was a stage calling place and a rival of the Carroll Hotel on King St. It did its trade chiefly with the people from the North and was well patronized. It occupied the site of our Post Office and was the scene of our public gatherings. There speakers would address the people. The writer well remembers the election of D. Connor, 1858, "by one single vote." On this oc-casion Edward Blake, (a nephew of D. Connor), when a young man just coming into public prominence, addressed the people from the balcony. It was on occasions such as this the people let loose. The bar of this ancient hostelry was a large room and could accommodate a great number. It was heated in winter from an immense fire place on the north end of the building which was frequently supplied with a back log of about 2 feet diameter and with the fire well fed in front of it, gave both heat and light to the apartment, The rule at the bar in those days was "a crowd could be treated for a York shilling,"

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12 1/2 ¢ , and as many as you liked for a quarter (25¢). The old house, as the years passed, lost its standing and was fi-nally referred to as the "Bummers' Roost." It was in the barn of this building the fire originated. Our fire extinguisher ap-paratus was the old hand engine of which Ingersoll pos-sessed two, which was unable to handle the situation. Lon-don and Woodstock responded nobly and were the means of saving what was left of Thames St. The political situation was a most interesting one. Sir John was returned in 1872 but the Pacific scandal caused him to retire. Well, he was not idle during his retirement. Alex. McKenzie held the Premiership for the next five years and during that period the National Policy made its appear-ance and the N. P. was said and sung and shouted in every con-ceivable manner. John A., as he was familiarly called, was cartooned, lampooned and caricatured in every possible way. Everything possible to label N. P. was decorated with those initials. When at the end of the five year period, (1878), John A. stepped into power with the coun-try behind him and by the time we reached the decade of the 80's, an advance along all lines was made both tangible and visible. 1872 the Noxon Works removed to their present site. Before referring to the above, it would seem to be h fitting occasion to re-fer to the earlier history of this institution. To do so we must return to the history of the founder, James Noxon, and again we are brought into contact with that ear-lier element in our population that has proved its value in still earlier days. The subject of this brief sketch became a resident of Ingersoll in the early 50's. His first occu-pation was as a clerk in the hardware business of Mr. W. East-wood, but realizing the opportunity of engaging in the

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manufacture of farm machinery with his brother, Samuel, commenced operations on the present site of our Furniture Factory. In this situation they produced many lines of agri-cultural machinery — wood sawing machines, reapers and mowers. It is not alone in his relation to his business as a manufacturer we must regard him. His ability was directed into every channel of our progress in public affairs. and in the interest he took in our dairy business, and it was to him, as president of our organization for the promotion of this trade, that it owes much to its earliest success. He gave this subject a leadership that overcame many of the difficulties that are sure to arise in any enterprise in its initial stages. To Mr. Noxon we owe the securing of the Credit Valley Rail-way Connection which ultimately extended to St. Thomas. Mr. James Noxon was married to Margaret McDonald, (daughter of John McDonald, Esq., now deceased, one of our oldest and respected citizens.) The family consisted of Mrs. (Dr.) Canfield, (now deceased), W. C. Noxon, Commissioner for Immigra-tion for Dominion Government, Samuel Noxon, who represents Standard Oil in China, Miss Nellie Noxon, Ingersoll. The Noxon family have here a lasting remind-er of their former citizenship in their former home, now the Alex-andra Hospital. On the occupation of their now extensive premises, the firm became The Noxon Mfg. Co. Ltd., James Noxon, president, and with the increased facilities the busi-ness advanced until it was giving employ-ment to from 200 to 300 men which was of great benefit to the Town. With our entrance into the decade of the 80's, a spirit of advancement appears to have been developed, possible, through the conviction that a stable government with a fixed policy under an' accepted leader had inspired the confidence of the people to venture on the necessary undertakings.

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It was during this decade that Ingersoll became the location of those of our most important industries that are of great benefit to us today. With the water supply, the railway and electric light an entirely new era had been entered upon. Just a few statistics — Status of progress of dairying in the Dominion of Can-ada. By J. A. Ruddick: The total annual value of dairy production in Canada amounts to over $200,000,000 with several additions to be made to this sum. Statement from Mr. F. Hems, London: Factory Dairy Productions Oxford County, 1922 Cheese 6,393,313 Ibs. $1,023,571.32 Creamery Butter 1,099,688 lbs. $ 366,906.45 Whey Butter 58,065 lbs. $ 17,419.78 Whey Cream $ 15,550.76 Milk for condensing powder, etc. 99,333,816 lbs. $1,618,462.53 Milk and cream shipped from factories $ 236,534.08 _____________

$3,29.8,446.92 Dairy Production, Oxford County, 1923 Pounds of Cheese 6,837,124 Value of Cheese $1,326,231,66 Pounds Creamery Butter 723.812 Value Creamery Butter 255,851.41 Pounds Whey Butter 16,631 Value Whey Butter 6,558.59 Value Whey Cream 32,121.46 Pounds Market Milk 40,817,680 Value Market Milk 752,813.66 Value Cream Shipped 78,494.10 Pounds milk used for

condensing and powdered milk 97,371,116

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Value milk used for condensing and powdered milk 1,755,374.84 ______________ Total Value $4,207,445.72 Submitted by James Sinclair, July 17th, the writer's 80th birthday. We have now reached that point in our history when we can look back over our journeyings from our earliest years and view with satisfaction our onward and upward march through experiences that should teach those of the future lessons that have been dearly bought, which should form a safeguard against their recurrence, in public and private life, while from out of those difficulties, debt and dis-appointment, there has emerged the saving course of action that has redeemed Ontario from conditions painful to re-cord, and has placed within the reach of our people every comfort and convenience that can add to continued health and enjoyment.

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